Bryan Kohberger was cold and emotionless as he confessed to murdering four Idaho college students today.
Kohberger, 30, spoke calmly, answering ‘yes’ as he was asked plainly whether he murdered the four students.
His plea deal was a shock to the victims’ families, some of whom are furious that it was ever offered to him.
He took the deal to avoid the death penalty – accepting instead a life without parole sentence – after years of delays and stalling.
Kohberger has now admitted to the world that he did murder Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, on November 13, 2022.
The world still does not know why he did it – and he may never have to confess to it.
Judge Steven Hippler accepted Kohberger’s plea and said he will be sentenced at Ada County Court on July 23 at 9am local time (11am EST).
‘The trial will be vacated and the jury commissioner will get words to those who were summoned that they won’t be required to attend,’ Hippler added.
Documents in the court file won´t be unsealed until after sentencing.
Kohberger remained unemotional as he confirmed to the judge that he stabbed the four victims almost three years ago.
Hippler addressed Kohberger, wearing a gray shirt and dark tie, directly to explain the possible penalties to the crime that he is set to plead guilty to.
Kohberger confirmed to the judge that he was pleading guilty’ freely and voluntarily’ because he was, in fact, guilty, and not because he had some other incentive.
The families of his victims maintained stoic expressions across the courtroom from Kohberger as he gave his short, affirmative answers to the judge.
Hippler wasted no time to address the controversy around the decision to offer Kohberger a plea to avoid the death penalty – a decision that one victim’s family has vehemently opposed.
‘This court cannot require the prosecutor to seek the death penalty, nor would it be appropriate for this court to do that,’ Hippler said.
He also addressed criticisms that the families were not given time to weigh in on the plea deal.
‘I, like everyone else, learned of this plea agreement Monday afternoon and had no inkling of it beforehand. Once I learned of the defendant’s decision to change his plea in this case it was important that I take the plea as soon as possible.’
Hippler said his court received numerous emails and phone messages ahead of the hearing, during which the judge could accept or reject the plea agreement.
He said the efforts by members of the public were inappropriate and also said that no external opinions would influence his decision.
‘Court is not supposed to, and this court will never, take into account public sentiment in making an opinion regarding its judicial decisions in cases. I always will make decisions based on where the facts and the law lead me, period,’ the judge said.
Kohberger watched without reaction as the judge issued his warning.
They waited with somber, quiet expressions.
At least 100 people were in attendance in the courtroom, and nearly 12,000 people tuned in to watch a livestream of the proceeding.
The accused killer spoke intently with his lead attorney Anne Taylor for a few moments before he was led out of court and back to jail.
Noticeably, Kohberger was not handcuffed or shackled for the hearing.
Kohberger previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and burglary charges in a gruesome multiple homicide in 2022, but on Wednesday accepted the state’s plea deal.
He looked on coldly as Latah County prosecutor Bill Thompson laid out a detailed timeline of what took place inside off-campus house shared by five women.
Thompson confirmed that Kohberger went up to the third floor of the residence at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, killing Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
Xana Kernodle was still up at that time and, as Kohberger was coming down the stairs or leaving, he encountered her.
He killed her and then her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, who was sleeping in her bed. Kohberger stared expressionlessly as he listened to Thompson.
Thompson choked up as he finished his comments, laying out the timeline for the murders.
He said that Bryan Kohberger intended to kill – but did not intend to murder all the victims – before entering the home.
Goncalves, Chapin, Kernodle and Mogen were all likely asleep when they were attacked and killed. Some had defensive wounds and each was stabbed multiple times, autopsies revealed.
The quadruple murder shocked the small farming community of about 25,000 people – which hadn’t had a homicide in about five years – and prompted a massive hunt for the killer.
The manhunt included an elaborate effort to track down a white sedan that was seen on surveillance cameras repeatedly driving by the rental home, to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect through the use of genetic genealogy and to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings through cellphone data.
Kohberger was arrested while staying with his parents in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, around six weeks after the killings, on December 30 2022.
Authorities said cellphone data and surveillance video shows that Kohberger visited the victims’ neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings.
The state previously laid out how Kohberger purchased a balaclava from Dick’s Sporting Goods store months before the savage murders inside the victims’ off-campus home.
Surviving housemate Dylan Mortensen later told police she saw a man wearing ‘the same kind of mask’ during the crime spree. She also described seeing a man with ‘bushy eyebrows’ – which fit Kohberger’s appearance.
Kohberger also bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and sharpener from Amazon back in March 2022, according to a prosecution filing.
He was ultimately linked to the murder of the four students by DNA found on the sheath of a knife found at the scene of their off-campus home.
Data from Kohberger’s cellphone also showed it connected to a cellphone tower near the victims’ off-campus house a total of 23 times over the course of four months leading up to the grisly murders, according to court documents.
Then, on the night of the November 13, 2022, prosecutors say Kohberger broke into the victims’ home shortly after they had gone to bed from a night of partying and stabbed them all to death.
His white Hyundai Elantra was allegedly caught on a neighbor’s home security footage at around 3.30am, and was seen circling around the block multiple times over the next half hour.
By 4.07am, the vehicle came back drove by once again – then didn’t come back into view until 4.20am, when it was seen speeding off.
During that 13-minute window, sources close to the investigation told NBC’s Dateline that Kohberger went directly upstairs to Mogen’s bedroom, where he allegedly killed her and Goncalves.
He is accused of the turning his attention to Kernodle on his way back out the house, killing her as she was up ordering food, and then targeting her boyfriend, Chapin, whom Kohberger allegedly ‘carved’.
Meanwhile, data from Kohberger’s phone indicate he turned it off before 3am that morning, and when he apparently turned it back on at around 4.48am, it connected with a cellphone tower south of Moscow.
But the phone also appeared to be briefly back in the city shortly after 9am, when Kohberger reportedly returned to his apartment in Pullman, Washington, where he took a chilling selfie, giving the thumbs up pose in a bathroom mirror.
In the aftermath, Kohberger allegedly searched to buy a replacement knife and sheath.
He was ultimately arrested nearly six weeks after the students were found dead at his parents’ home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania where he had returned for the holidays.